From Lagos to Nairobi

The exit follows OmniRetail’s recent $20 million Series A raise, which saw participation from 64-year-old manufacturing titan, Flour Mills of Nigeria, alongside other backers. This partial exit marks Silverbacks’ ninth profitable exit.  Founded in 2019, OmniRetail links 150,000 retailers with 5,800 distributors and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers through its e-commerce platform. Twice dubbed Africa’s…

Meta, in collaboration with Nigeria’s Federal Government (FG), has launched the ”Llama Accelerator Programme” to harness AI for addressing national challenges. The initiative focuses on fostering the development and deployment of solutions powered by Meta’s open-source large language model, Llama3. It aims to support local startups, developers, and researchers in building AI-powered products that tackle…

As Nigeria embraces the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive development across sectors like health, education, agriculture, and fianance, a critical conversation is emerging around the frameworks needed is to guide its deployment. While AI offers transformative possibilities__such as automating processes, improving decision-making, and boosting productivity__it also presents significant risks if left unchecked. Governance…

Nigeria has inaugurated the Digital Innovation and Entreprenuership Park in Abuja as part of its strategic efforts to build a $1 trillion technology-driven economy by 2030. Commisioned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the park is a major milestone to fostering innovation , entrepreneurship, and digital skills development. The park, spearheaded by the National Information Technology…

Starlink, the satelite internet service developed by SpaceX, has officially launched in the Democratic Republic of Congon (DRC), marking a significant milestone in the country’s digital transformation. This development promises to revolutionize internet access across the DRC, particularly in remote and undeserved communities where traditional connectivity has long been unreliable and non -existent. The DRC,…

Investing in growth- stage AI is becoming increasingly risky and complex due to several converging factors. The surge in intrestand funding for AI has led to inflated valuations. Startups, especially those promising generative AI capabilities, are large rounds at-sky high valuation before demonstrating sustainable revenue or clear product-market fit. This creates pressure on investors to…